News Miner Wrote:‘Trails guy’ Hancock blazes a new path

By [email=ceshleman%40newsminer.com]Chris Eshleman[/email]
Staff Writer
Published January 28, 2008

In recent years, Fairbanks public officials have put an increasing emphasis on protecting trails, and on tailoring outdoor spaces for dog mushers, skiiers and other sporting enthusiasts.
And last summer, the Fairbanks North Star Borough Assembly resurrected a position on the public payroll to help coordinate all things trail-related, reviving a job that had originally been created three decades ago.
Enter Tom Hancock, who moved into the job in August.
As the community’s trails coordinator, Hancock is a point-man for the Parks and Recreation Department, which in turn views his desk as a clearinghouse for questions or issues related to trails, whether the questions come from land owners, government agencies, snowmachiners or other trail users, or your average Joe.
Hancock also works with the department’s other trail specialists, including Paul Schmidt, who helps manage park projects and map trail routes. Part of their job is to establish a user-friendly manual to help residents take steps to help protect trail systems and ensure trails connect to each other as the community develops around them.
“It’s kind of a big mission,” parks director Karl Kassel said. “But no one’s better than those two for wading into this.”
Role
The Borough Assembly received a budget proposal from Mayor Jim Whitaker last spring that included room and money for a half-time trails specialist.
Supporters like Jon Underwood caught wind of the idea and immediately began to lobby the assembly, which is responsible for approving spending plans, to not only back the measure but increase it to a full-time position.
Members of the Trails Advisory Commission had also said the community’s trail system was in dire need of attention — even the biggest and oldest trails include significant stretches that are not surveyed or legally protected with easements.
“The work done now by the trails coordinator will have positive effects for many years to come, especially if Fairbanks experiences another round of rapid growth, as we may during construction of a gas pipeline,” Underwood, a trail commissioner, said.
The commission had pushed for years to add a full-time trails specialist who could help prevent development from reshaping popular paths like the 100 Mile Loop and Equinox Marathon trails, commission chairman John Morack said.
But Hancock said his desk isn’t just a place to plan for the future — it’s also the first stop for everyday trail questions. That leaves him attending to neighborhood-level issues such as, for example, helping to better communications between snowmachiners and non-motorized trail users, he said.
In the past, the job of managing Fairbanks-area trails systems — which cross a myriad of private and public lands — went to any number of local, state or federal agencies. Parks officials indicated they’re happy that residents and organizations can now one-stop-shop with their grievances or questions.
What if a mountain bicyclist has watched a trail develop in recent years, only now someone looks to have built a fence across or near part of it. Is the trail legal?
Or what if a land owner wants to dedicate a property easement to help protect a section of trail, a process that includes legal steps?
“It’s real easy,” Schmidt said. “(Tom’s) the one they can go to.”
The coordinator position can check zoning or subdivision proposals to make sure they’re consistent with the trails plan, said Lisa Holzaphel, a rivers and trails conservation specialist with the National Park Service in Anchorage.
The oversight will help ensure trails aren’t lost in the development process, she said.
“(T)he tasks were falling between the cracks” before the new position came on, Holzaphel wrote in an e-mail to the Daily News-Miner last week.
Blend of Experience
The borough has had a Comprehensive Recreational Trail Plan on a shelf for almost 23 years, but the borough’s staff has only been able to chip away at efforts to implement its goals, Schmidt said.
Having someone to focus solely on trails gives the departments in charge of planning and parks a better chance to get it done, local officials said.
The Parks and Recreation Department already has a strong line of communication with runners, skiiers and other outdoors groups. Director Kassel and parks superintendent Don Chagnon serve on the board of Alaska Trails, a nonprofit that helps organizations fund, develop and maintain projects around the state. And Schmidt sits on the state’s Outdoor Recreation Trail Advisory Board.
Hancock, 50, complements the department’s existing strengths. He spent years at the borough as a land-management and subdivision specialist before moving into the trails slot last year, a move that automatically gives the department’s team a better understanding of how to secure rights of way and easements, legal tools that can help the community preserve the trail system for years to come.
“He can use that synergy and expertise that we already have in place,” Kassel said. “It’s kind of a natural fit and complement for our department.”
E-mail: thancock@co.fairbanks.ak.us
Contact staff writer Chris Eshleman at 459-7582.

Trail Guy Wrote:Kevin:
Thanks for your e-mail. I’ve been hearing from a variety of trail users but this is the first message from a 4x4 highway vehicle group. The one thing the Borough does not have is an area set aside for the types of activities that your group enjoys. The trail systems that are used around the Borough are easily compromised when used by 4x4 highway vehicles due to the delicate soil conditions we have here in the interior of Alaska.

Parks and Recreation is interested in meeting with you and talking about any ideas you have. I’d like to set a date when myself and a couple other Parks staff could meet with you to discuss ideas. How about sometime the week of February 4th?

Looking forward to hearing back from you.

Thomas E. Hancock, Jr., Trails Coordinator

I responded that any day besides Wed would work for me. SWEETO!